Circumpolar (2010)

The 11th edition of the International Biennial of the Poster in Mexico invited Rebeca Méndez to be one of 100 designers and artists participating in the collection ‘Voices in Freedom.’ Méndez’s artwork, created in collaboration with her life partner and writer Adam Eeuwens, moves beyond political and national boundaries and focuses on the circumpolar flight of the arctic tern, who travels from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again, from Boreal Summer to Austral Summer, traversing 520 kilometers a day, 70,900 kilometers total. The arctic tern lives the most daylight of
any creature in the world.

The poster is two sided and bilingual—Spanish/English.

The poster’s text reads:

Circumpolar

A solo flight
From North Pole to South Pole and back again
Boreal Summer to Austral Summer
520 kilometers a day, 70,900 kilometers total
Leave the Arctic in August and travel 80 days south
Fuel up on food for a month in the Mid Atlantic
traverse the west coast of Africa to the east coast of Brazil
Arrive in the Great Southern Ocean
For 150 days circumnavigate the Antarctic continent
Leave in April and travel 40 days north
Pass the Equator and catch the trade winds
return to the Arctic in June to breed
80 days later, as the days grow shorter
take flight south again
and live the most daylight of
any creature in the world.

A solo flight,
From North Pole to South Pole and back again,
Boreal Summer to Austral Summer,
520 kilometers a day, 70,900 kilometers total,
Leave the Arctic in August and travel 80 days south,
Fuel up on food for a month in the Mid Atlantic,
Traverse the west coast of Africa to the east coast of Brazil,
Arrive in the Great Southern Ocean,
For 150 days circumnavigate the Antarctic continent,
Leave in April and travel 40 days north,
Pass the Equator and catch the trade winds,
Return to the Arctic in June to breed,
80 days later, as the days grow shorter
take flight south again,
And live the most daylight of
any creature in the world.